The invention relates in general to coat or clothes hangers of the type used to hang articles of clothing from a horizontally extending rod, and more particularly relates to such devices which are height adjustable such that distance from the floor to the triangular article-receiving body of the hanger is adjustable, and further where the hanger has a safety mechanism whereby the triangular portion will separate from the hook member in the event weight in excess of the separation limit is applied to the hanger.
Simple devices for hanging articles of clothing, commonly referred to as coat or clothes hangers, are well known and extremely common. The coat hanger consists of either a triangular or an inverted V-shaped article-receiving body portion which depends from a hooked member. The hook member is usually rounded and is sized to fit over a horizontally extending rod mounted within a closet or formed as part of a garment display rack, such that the hanger may be removed from the rod by raising the hanger so that the open portion of the hook member clears the rod when the hanger is pulled away. The hanger is replaced by reversing the motion. Clothing or other articles are supported on the triangular of V-shaped portion of the hanger, either by inserting the sloping segments into the arm holes of a shirt, jacket, blouse, coat, etc., or by folding pants over the horizontal segment of the triangular type.
Such hangers are typically sized such that the hook extends only several inches above the article-receiving body, so that the clothing hangs only a few inches below the support rod, which is typically mounted 60 inches above the floor. This poses a problem for younger children or handicapped people, in that the hangers cannot be reached to remove or replace a garment, nor can the hanger be reached to remove it from or replace it on the rod. This problem has been addressed in a number of ways, such as by providing an extension member having a hook on one end and a loop on the other, such that the hook of a traditional coat hanger can be inserted through the loop, as seen for example in British Patent No. 1,423,902, issued to Fox in 1976. A drawback to this solution is that height of the hanger relative to the floor can only be changed by providing a shorter extension member to replace the original. Other configurations which mainly strive to increase the number of garments which can be hung in a single space utilize hangers with multiple article-receiving bodies, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,438 issued to Jugan in 1997, which provides a telescoping rod joining two article-receiving bodies, German Patent No. 3,804,226 issued to Tollkein in 1989 and British Patent No. 336,693 issued to Stewart in 1930, both showing multiple single article-receiving bodies connected vertically to a single hook, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,838 issued to Campbell in 1987, showing a number of inverted hooks descending vertically from the rod connecting hook, would because of their configurations allow garments to be mounted closer to the floor, but the designs are wasteful in that the upper article-receiving bodies would remain unused.
A separate consideration for an improved hanger is that of safety, in that there exists the possibility of accidental strangling should children or parts of their clothing become entangled in the hangers suspended too great a distance above the floor. Even the known multiple piece hangers are not designed to separate to protect a child.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved coat or clothes hanger which is height adjustable such that the distance from the horizontal rod to the article-receiving body portion of the hanger, and thus simultaneously the distance from the floor to the article-receiving body, can be altered to provide easy access to children or handicapped people who can reach only a limited distance above the floor. It is a further object to provide such a hanger which can be adjusted to raise the article-receiving body as a child grows. It is a further object to provide such a hanger where parts of the structure are removable as the hanger is adjusted for height. It is a further object to provide such a hanger which has a safety mechanism such that the article-receiving body will separate or break away from the hook portion encircling the support rod should weight in excess of a predetermined maximum load be applied to the hanger. These and other objects which may become apparent are fulfilled by the invention disclosed below.